Lees Summit Symphony Featured Musician  Sara Mary Hall

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Some people are left brained, some are right brained. Very few are, simply put, a “brain.” That term accurately describes our Featured Musician for this edition of the Lee’s Summit Journal.

Hall is an original to the Lee’s Summit Symphony. She has been with us since the beginning. She was a member of the Lee’s Summit High School Orchestra under the direction of Russell E. Berlin, Jr. Hall holds a BSc in Microbiology and a BA in Violin Performance along with an MSc in Virology from the University of Kansas at Lawrence, Kan. She is the mother of two, Gabrielle and Keiran, both of which are musicians in their own right and are regular patrons of the Lee’s Summit symphony along with Hall’s wonderful mother and father who are always in attendance at the Symphony concerts.

A scientist by training, with over 20 years experience in Silicon Valley in fund-raising, licensing, intellectual property, business development, regulatory/clinical issues, IR/PR and successful exits, Hall has co-founded and led two private biotech companies and led a third, public biotech.

She currently serves as CEO, director and co-founder of Orion BioScience, Inc. and as senior advisor to RRD International, LLC. Since graduating from the University of Kansas, Hall has held a number of managerial, ownership and director positions with several key BioScience entities. She has done extensive research and development in the field and has been involved in the founding, development three highly successful Biotech companies. She is a published scientific author in her field of expertise and is an internationally recognized authority in the BioScience arena.

Hall was inducted to the Lee’s Summit High School Hall of Fame in 2004 and has achieved numerous distinctions, honors, awards and recognitions in her field of expertise, serves as a member of the Development Committee of the Lee’s Summit Symphony, is a member of the Reprise String Quartet, a planning member of One Health Summit of Kansas City, a member of the Greater Kansas City Leadership Exchange with Silicon Valley, has been recommended for a Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do and is the recipient for two R and D 100 awards for Scientific Innovation.

“I was struck again by the clear correlation between academic success and music training,” she said. “Arts training is absolutely vital, regardless of the profession ultimately chosen – it teaches you creativity, discipline, and tremendous analytical skills. When you play in an ensemble of any kind, but especially a large orchestra, you recognize how your role is critical – you must know your part and play it well, because if you do, and if everyone else does as well, you can create together a deeply compelling experience for those who listen, something you could never do on your own. That knowledge, that passion and dedication, makes you a stronger leader from within, an entrepreneur, a tireless worker, a visionary.”

We are proud to proclaim Hall as one of our very own originals of the Lee’s Summit Symphony Orchestra. She is the very epitome of the fact that an individual can be both very creative and very ingenious at the same time.

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